The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
